Ascend Elements plans to move its corporate headquarters and research and development centre from its current location in Westborough, Massachusetts, to a 101,000-square-foot facility in the Pathway Devens campus in Devens, Massachusetts. The facility is owned and operated by King Street Properties in Boston. Ascend Elements has experienced over 500 percent headcount growth in the last 18 months and currently employs approximately 350 team members globally, including 140 people in Massachusetts. The 31-mile relocation is planned for September 2024.
"This relocation will be a milestone for Ascend Elements as we continue our rapid growth in the engineered battery materials industry," said Mike O'Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements. "The Pathway Devens location is a world-class facility with excellent amenities in a community of cleantech and biotech innovators. We look forward to having space to expand and a facility that will meet our current and future needs."
Pathway Devens is a 45-acre development that includes an 8,300-square-foot amenity centre and taproom that King Street will be opening in the first quarter of 2024. The amenity centre will be a feature element of the campus designed to create a welcoming environment for workers as well as the surrounding community to socialize. The building includes a fitness centre, lounge area, game room, and a café. Other businesses located on the campus include Electric Hydrogen, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and Azzur Group.
"Ascend Elements' mission to create a more sustainable lithium-ion battery supply chain aligns with King Street's mission to create science campuses that ultimately help solve human health and climate issues, and we are thrilled to welcome them to our growing roster of tenants at Pathway Devens," said Tyson Reynoso, managing director and partner at King Street Properties.
Ascend Elements uses its Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process to transform used lithium-ion batteries and gigafactory manufacturing scrap into new, engineered battery materials for electric vehicles, specifically cathode active materials (CAM) and cathode precursor (pCAM). The process eliminates several intermediary steps in the traditional cathode manufacturing process and provides significant economic and carbon-reduction benefits.
Ascend Elements recently closed a $542 million funding round and received $480 million of U.S. Department of Energy grant awards to accelerate the construction of a $1 billion engineered battery materials manufacturing campus in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Ascend Elements also operates one of North America's largest electric vehicle battery recycling facilities in Covington, Georgia. While the company is expanding in the southeast United States, O'Kronley says central Massachusetts is home.
"For a climate tech company in growth mode, Massachusetts is the only place to be," O'Kronley said. "Our technology was invented at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and our first location was in Worcester. We have very strong ties to the area, and we look forward to becoming part of the Devens community."
